Christmas Bowie

Damascus Steel, Stabilized Oak Burl, Bras File-Worked Guard, Brass & Copper Mosaic Pins/Mosaic Thong Tube
14.5" Over All
9" Blade
Sale Price: $75.00 USD (Sold to a dear friend for cost of materials, original asking price was $165 USD)

This western bowie was my first big knife project. It was made Christmas 2009, and was a lot of fun to make. My inspiration was to make something that looked like it might be one of the originals, with lots of antiquing techniques used throughout. This antique theme effected choice of materials, and finishing methods considerably.

I used copper and brass mosaic pins for the handle and brass for the guard. Stabilized Oak Burl for the handle. Took ages and ages to shape, as I was using only hand files (the stabilized wood is VERY hard). The wood was finished with gun oil (even though stabilized wood needs only buffing, the oil provided a lovely aged look) The masaic pins were treated with a sculptor's browning agent to age them, and the Guard received some rustic file work, followed by more of the browning agent. I did several washes of the brown on the guard with buffing in between to get just the right look.

The blade is damascus from Pakistan. Good quality steel, though the temper was softer than I would have liked. The blade had been destined to go in to a $150+ knife, but I got it for considerably less. After sharpening, a cold blueing solution was applied to the whole blade, and then rubbed off of the high places. Again, several baths were applied until I had it the way I wanted it.